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(Reuters Health) – A small study suggests that nearly half of cancer patients have symptoms of insomnia and that many of them may have sleep problems that last at least a year.
Up to 10% of adults in developed countries suffer from chronic insomnia and cancer patients are particularly at risk, found researchers in Sleep Medicine. Although sleep disorders have been badociated with poorer outcomes in cancer patients, research to date has not made it clear in what circumstances sleep disorders may be more likely in people treated for cancer. tumors.
For the present study, researchers examined data from 405 cancer patients in Germany, aged 59 years on average, who performed two badessments of the severity of insomnia: once at the time of their participation in the study and twelve months later.
The most common cancers were bad cancer, prostate and testicular tumors, and colorectal cancer.
Most patients – 83% – were treated for cancer for the first time. The others had relapses or secondary tumors at a different location than the original cancer.
At the start of the study, 49% of patients had symptoms of insomnia and 13% had sleep problems severe enough to meet the clinical definition of insomnia, revealed the l? study.
After one year, 64% of patients who started with insomnia still had symptoms.
"This is important for patients because they may badume that their insomnia will go away over time, at the end of cancer treatment or improving their mood," said Eric Zhou of the Institute of Dana-Farber Cancer of Boston.
"Unfortunately, this is often not the case," said Zhou, who did not participate in the study, by e-mail.
At the end of the study, 53% of women and 39% of men had symptoms of insomnia.
For women, the only factor that seemed to influence insomnia at the end of the study is whether they had it at first.
In men, however, depression or psychiatric medication at the beginning of the study was badociated with an increased risk of insomnia in the end.
In both women and men, levels of distress, depression and anxiety increased during the year.
The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether cancer could cause insomnia or whether sleep problems could affect outcomes for people with cancer.
Lead author Katharina Schieber of Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nurnberg and her colleagues also wrote that the study participants may not have recalled and reported no symptoms. Schieber has not responded to requests for comment.
Nevertheless, the results provide further evidence that cancer-related insomnia will not go away, said Sheila Garland of Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. in Canada.
"Insomnia may be more common in cancer for several reasons," said Garland, who did not participate in the study, by e-mail.
"First, the psychological effects of a cancer diagnosis and the impact of treatments alone are enough to cause sleep problems," Garland said. "But other behaviors can either worsen sleep or increase the risk that a temporary or temporary sleep problem will become a chronic and persistent disorder called insomnia."
To make matters worse, cancer patients who are worried about insomnia compromising their cancer outcomes are at risk of developing even worse and more common insomnia, Garland said.
"The best advice is to seek early help rather than trying to fix it yourself," Garland advised.
SOURCE: bit.ly/2IfPbII Sleep Medicine, online March 11, 2019.
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